DREAM Project
by Rogue Sprite
Summary: Dei Retro Ego Autocide Machine Project. Kamiya Ph.D. contracted for four years on a shadowy project funded solely by the government. Her past research, an essential key, became the biggest controversy in the academia as she wavered between ethics and love
1. Death at The End

AN: If I were to try this again, would you read it?

**Chapter I: Death At The End**

* * *

Several hours after procedure, Kaoru came out of the ER completely exhausted and half-conscious. She could barely walk around in her office as she stumbled in from the door. A 36-hour operation on the brain weighed heavily on her feeble frame. She no longer had time for sleep, for food, or even for herself. Her hair framed her face in an unkempt manner and her scrubs sported an abstract painting of blood and brain matter. Her hands were still shaking from the small adrenaline shot she gave herself in the operating room for fear of suddenly losing it. Slowly she made her way to the sink and started scrubbing her hands free of blood and whatever else. 

She hummed a tuneless song, timing how long her hands needed to be under the refreshing cold of the water. She was so tired that she had no energy to even feel surprise when she saw Yukishiro looking at her as she looked up at the mirror.

"Have you thought about our proposition, Dr. Kamiya?"

Kaoru wordlessly dried her hands and started to take her scrubs off. Underneath she had nothing but a day-old undershirt and sweatpants. She did not care how she looked. Besides, Yukushiro should know better than to bother her right after a bypass.

"No sleepless nights. Twice the pay. You would be saving lives in a far more rewarding manner than what you had just gone through."

"The patient didn't make it."

"My apologies."

Kaoru stared at Enishi. He was as polite as ever and there was nothing that indicated malice in his voice. They had long been colleagues but it was only recently that he had taken interest in her skill. She knew he was in the research division, and she had done a little bit of that herself, but she took a different path. She was now the leading neurosurgeon of the hospital, and maybe the world, but she no longer enjoyed it. In fact, she doubted she ever did.

"Why?"

"Do you remember three years ago, before you received your license to practice, that you once conducted research in Dr. Makoto's lab?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"My sponsors are very interested that you continue research in that area…"

"You mean my so-called elixir?"

Enishi smiled slowly at her and nodded his head in affirmation.

Kaoru raised a questioning brow. True, she had favorable results in her past research but she had long abandoned it when she hit her final and most pivotal years in brain school. All it really was was an organically derived mixture for increasing brain activity. It may not sound much when phrased like that, but it did enable the body to do only what the mind can imagine…

"How long?"

"The contract asks for four years in that. After which, you are set to retire for the rest of your extremely young life."

Kaoru gave a soft chuckle. "Both you and I know I'm not really that young."

"You're the youngest doctor to achieve such a high position."

"Relatively."

"Point taken. The bottom line is, once you do this, you've got it made."

"I've already 'got it made', Yukishiro."

"You must at least want a change in scenery."

"I like this office. It's big and roomy and I have a futon couch over there. A plant over here. Not to mention this big glass wall behind me. There isn't a better view of the city at night than here."

"A different lifestyle? Or perhaps, an actual life?"

"Touché," Kaoru replied as she turned her swivel chair around and around for amusement. "Four years with sleep, no dying patients, and I finally get to figure out what you're up to?"

"Yes."

"Sounds like a deal."

"Good. We have our first meeting for this quarter tomorrow in the Red room. Be there 8 A.M. sharp. Oh and Kaoru?"

"What? And what happened to 'Doctor Kamiya'?"

"Make sure you're better-dressed. And you work under me." With a smirk, Enishi left the room quietly, leaving Kaoru in a slightly irritated yet amused mood. She should have known she would be overseen by Enishi. Well, if it were anyone less than him supervising her, she supposed she'd be a little offended. But it wasn't and fate was kind enough to her that she already had several years of experience of working with him. She stood up from her chair and laid herself down on the futon couch on the other side of her office. Almost immediately, her eyes closed and didn't open until several hours later.

* * *

_Fast forward 4 years_

Kaoru opened her eyes to see the redhead still soundlessly sleeping on her table. The dextrose was almost out, but thankfully his vitals seemed normal on the monitor. She almost fell off her futon-couch as she struggled to right herself in a standing position. Walking as silently as she could, she approached the man on her table with the utmost care. Almost feverishly, she caressed the line of his jaw with a single finger, letting a light yet fervent kiss land on his chin. She whispered words of promises and love to his unconscious body and adjusted the devices connected to him as she left his side. Quietly and slowly she made her way to the sink.

Looking at the mirror, she almost laughed hysterically at the new lines below her eyes since she last looked in the same mirror. Yet she immediately took a hold of herself and what little sanity she had left and forced herself to hum her tune.

"Do you remember the last we talked in this very same office?"

Kaoru jumped and made a clattering noise as she turned around and faced the speaker.

"Four years, Kaoru."

"_Doctor Kamiya._"

"Doctor Kamiya, my apologies."

"How did you find us?" she whispered.

"I found _you_ by asking Saitoh."

"I hate that guard. And if you don't mind, lower your voice, Yukishiro." She turned around again and turned off the tap water. Jerking the towel from the bar, she hastily dried her hands. She walked past the white-haired man with obvious disdain and readjusted the devices once again near her table.

"Kenshin, wake up," she whispered urgently.

"You've changed much, Kamiya. You never used to care." Enishi walked to the other side of the table, watching Kaoru as she half tried to pack up some things into a bag and half tried to wake up the man.

"Kenshin, please wake up." She nudged his shoulder twice.

"Well you always cared. I suppose that comes as a trade-off for being a woman in this kind of career."

"Kenshin, _please_."

"But whoever heard of the doctor falling in love with the lab rat?"

Kaoru shot a sharp glare to the man across her.

"_I hate you, Enishi--_"

It was only then that Kaoru noticed that he was merely taking his time.

"Sorry love, but you knew this end was due" Enishi pulled out his gun and slowly started to point it at Kenshin Himura.

"NO!"Kaoru lunged at Enishi across the table and landed on the man's stomach.

Yet Enishi had already pulled the trigger, despite her cries, and the resounding echo of the gunshot and broken glass rode through Kaoru's spine. Seconds later, the man sat up, massaging his brow… _"Kaoru"_he whispered in a hoarse manner.

"K-Kenshin? Oh god!" She tightly wrapped her arms around his shivering frame. It was only after a few seconds that she noticed Enishi cocking his gun once again.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"You once saved my life, Kaoru-sweet so I'm letting you go. The only way out is through that broken glass window. Do you understand me, Battousai? Good. Now Kaoru dear, I'm going to try this again, but this time around you really mustn't try to save me." Enishi shoved the gun into his mouth and winked lecherously at Kaoru. Seconds after, brain matter once again stained her surroundings.

"Kaoru, we need to move." Kenshin firmly said as he tried to get through Kaoru's shock.

"Uhuh…" was all she could manage. His eyes flashed gold as he analyzed the surroundings. Stiff as his body felt, his movements were quick and purposeful, pulling Kaoru in closer to his body. She tightly wrapped her legs around Kenshin's lower waist as he carried her to the window as if she were a child. Grabbing the bag she packed, he ignored the tears that traveled down his back and jumped into open air, ten-stories from the ground.

Soon after, Megumi walked into the office and grimaced at Enishi's body. She shouted orders to the rest and swore loudly and graphically enough that even Sagara cringed. Inside however, she felt relief flood through her when she saw that no one else was dead.

* * *

Tell me what you think.


	2. Research Jargon and Whatnot

I like how this is coming in its beginning. Let's see if I can keep it up?

**Chapter Two: Research Jargon and Whatnot**

* * *

_Six years before Enishi's death._

The government achieved peace but only through the death of those it claimed to protect. Friends, lovers, brothers, sons.

In a stone cell, far removed from society and sanity, lay a dying figure who was none of those mentioned above. Merely a liability, his life was deemed only as a shell for evidence and potential blackmail. Kill him and some subordinates might yet again rise courageously in the name of freedom and justice. Let him live and those same subordinates might be tempted to use him as a reason to rise up for freedom and justice.

But render him untraceable, incapable, and useless, he becomes a shell.

Yet this shell does not go unnoticed, seeing as every government has its own form of paranoia. And within every paranoid government there are one or two opportunists who are more than willing to turn things around. Governments that are run by no more than little boys can easily be bought by pretty words and well-oiled hair.

If Kenshin Himura truly knew what was spoken behind the walls of his reality during that time, he would not have agreed. He would have stayed in his cell to spite the opportunists if not to preserve his own life. But he didn't. He was bartered out of his prison and the same well-oiled hair and pretty words convinced him that not only was it convenient but it was absolutely necessary to protect the peace he had sacrificed so much to buy with his bloodied hands.

To disappear and to be made useful once again was a beautiful idea. To be oblivious to the shadows that haunted him and the nightmares that would not let him be was an invigorating prospect. Happiness, for him, was the absence of guilt and at that time he did not comprehend what it meant "to be alive but not to live." He thought they were words. Words that really held no consequence for him, nothing that could add to his present regrets in life.

When he asked what it meant, what dream they were talking about, they merely smiled and repeated those pretty words that had turned all the other men above him. He shrugged his shoulders didn't mind the round-about answer. After all, a dream is only a dream.

He laid down on the steel table and stared straight at the operating light, letting the drugs take him. He would do what was asked of him by his country. He would lay himself helpless to scalpels if need be. But let it be known that when a guiltless consciousness is thrown into the deal, Kenshin Himura will damn the consequences to hell and drink metal if asked to.

So he did.

* * *

**Back to normal timeline**

_8 A.M. Red Room –First Quarter Meeting of the Makoto Research group – Objective: Kaoru Kamiya's Contract_

"This meeting will now commence."

Kaoru sat down at the head of the oval table with her hands set primly in her lap. She did not bother to hide her exhaustion as she yawned widely in front of her audience, blinking once or twice to refocus her vision of the room.

"Kaoru, if you would sign here, we will get you updated. I trust you read the fine-print of the contract last night?" Enishi handed Kaoru a beautiful silver fountain pen, taking her right hand gently and closing her dainty fingers around it. Kaoru smiled and nodded her affirmation. In bold script, she planted her name on the dotted line, effectively sealing her fate and mouth for the next four years.

"Let's get started. Now Kaoru, instead of giving you an overview, we were hoping for questions on what you did not understand." Megumi Takani was second only to Makoto himself, who was on a sabbatical at the moment according to Yukishiro. There was nothing particularly amiss about her, except for how she seemed to flirt with everybody and nobody at the same time. Rumor had it, she was currently leading on the head of security, but many thought that was just plain dumb and that Megumi could easily manipulate anybody of importance instead of some measly guard.

"I do have some questions on the data presented in your latest paper. Have you tried to test a different kind of antibody to conjugate the nanoparticles to? And could you explain the method of observing the sample in the organism's lymph flow? I wasn't aware—"

A sharp knock resounded in the room. Megumi gracefully excused herself from the table and answered the door.

"Officer Sagara, how wonderful it is to see you this morning." She chippered with a delightful smile plastered on her face.

"Whatever foxy-lady, I've got a message for Dr. Yukishiro." The tall man replied as he held up a crisp white envelope and waved it under the lady's nose. Enishi smiled and proceeded to slowly help himself up.

Megumi's left eyebrow quirked.

"Enishi, you really shouldn't trouble yourself. Give it to me, Sagara."

"Nope. I have explicit orders."

"The man is two feet away from me and it's just plain ridiculous for him to stand up seeing as he has had an exhausting time in the lab last night. So here, give it to me."

"No."

Megumi's vein pulsed.

Sanosuke Sagara was head of security for many reasons. One of which was that he was not easily manipulated. Which could be the reason why Megumi still has not tired of him, if that truly is the sort of relationship they were involved in. Or it could be strictly business—consisting of all due respect for the rather untouchable and, at times, unbearable she-wolf…uh doctor. All in all, his relationship with the doctor was weird at best, if not entirely ironic.

"Well, I see no reason to let you in since we are in the middle of a very important meeting. That message will have to wait." She snapped back and attempted to slam the door on him, but Sagara easily held the door open and unceremoniously grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the room, letting the door close behind them.

After a moment of silence—for the room was completely soundproof and none of the assumed shouting (or flirting) could be heard—Sagara triumphantly walked in and handed the all-important message to Yukishiro and greeted everyone a pleasant day as he left the room, giving a slightly frustrated doctor a smug grin. Megumi closed the door behind him soon after and looked pointedly at Yukishiro with her arms folded and her stance almost deadly.

"Well?"

"I'm needed upstairs in the lab."

"Go and report back tonight."

Yukishiro mocked-salute the lady as he walked out of the room. Megumi, of course, rolled her eyes and landed her sight on Kaoru.

"Dr. Kamiya, since this meeting has fallen apart due to a certain chicken-brain, would you rather that we show you what this research group is all about?"

"I'd love to see your equipment, yes."

"Then come with me. Everyone else can go back to their work."

And with that several of the other doctors left, all but one who stayed to accompany Kaoru and Megumi.

Dr. Aoshi Shinomori. Expertise: Psychology.

* * *

Donning on a white lab coat and goggles, Kaoru could barely hide her bubbling enthusiasm as she entered the laser room. It had always been a fascination for her in college and she was happy to realize that it still brought her a lot of joy whenever she was allowed control over such expensive toys. She eagerly took the controls of the nearest 5-million-dollar laser. 

"So in measuring the clearance time of the nanoparticles that have been conjugated to the erythrocytes, which I assume were isolated with standard operating procedure, you deduced that this sort of nanoparticle have little or no affect on normal flow? How could you say that? What about cell-cell interactions and cell-behavior on its own? You can't just say 'oh this gets pissed out at the same time normal stuff does, it must be okay to use!' That's entirely—"

"Kamiya, please have _patience_. Our methods of observation include in vivo studies as well—"

"You keep the organisms alive, well duh. Of course they're alive or else there would be no flow."

Megumi took the 'joystick' of a Raman laser from Kaoru's trigger-happy hands and sighed with the utmost maturity. Trying to keep her poise and her words from snapping she faced the young doctor with a paralyzing glare.

"_You will listen._ As I was saying, in vivo studies are essential and one way we have found to do it is to do an extension of the pulmonary vein—'

"Intravenous surgery—"

"THAT WAS CLOSELY OBSERVED UNDER A HIGH-POWER MICROSCOPE. WILL YOU LET ME FINISH TALKING!" Megumi's veins stuck out on either side of her neck as she made a tight fist to keep her nails from latching on to the tanuki's throat. Kaoru cowered behind the stoic Shinomori.

"Dr. Takani, mind the laser." Shinomori reminded the tense woman, not once batting an eye at how she had just exploded moments ago.

"But artificial elements were introduced. How could you have kept it within control?" Kaoru whispered it more to Aoshi's back than to anyone.

Megumi closed her eyes. She did not want to have to get into this much detail, but she should have known that nothing escapes Kamiya's observations.

"We had several problems with that in the past. Fortunately, Dr. Yumi Komagata perfected a technique that allows as to successfully observe the damned things up-close."

"What technique?"

Megumi sighed for the umpteenth time that day. "Let me take you upstairs to the animal control room."

Leading the trio through some walkways in between buildings and several floors higher up. In the Biomedical Building 2, Megumi led them into the elevator and pressed for the 5th floor, but when they got there, Megumi must have not been thinking and pressed six when she realized what floor she was on. Aoshi was still as stoic as ever, though Kaoru could feel a radiating emotion from him. Something that she couldn't quite place as she shamelessly stared at his face and chewed at her lower lip. She only stopped her rumination as Megumi led them to a large room filled mostly with small rodents and mammals.

"You see this room, Dr. Kamiya? Can you spot any animal, any organism at all, for observational purposes of the lymph flow in vivo with the most cutting edge cytometry techniques?

"With the kind of detail we would want for this project, no not really. None of these creatures have veins large enough, or systems complicated enough, to model any kind of flow we would want."

Silence ensued. Letting that sink in for a moment, Takani started to feed some mice on a nearby table.

"But if that is the case, _what _does Dr. Komagata use?" Kamiya looked at Shinomori and was not disappointed when she saw a subtle pursing of his lips.

"I know your type Dr. Kamiya. You're the type of researcher who likes to get her data all by herself. You were the one your classmates counted on to work on the group project. You depend on no one else to do work for you. That is going to have to change."

"Are you saying I'm just going to receive data from someone else to work with?"

"I'm saying you're going to have to actually work with us as a group, and that trust is essential."

Megumi finished feeding and she looked up once again at Kaoru. The glare she caught almost made her swallow, for Kaoru had her eyes slitted in a most unnerving manner.

"Dr. Takani, what are you and your people _doing?_"

"Only what our government tells us to do."

Finally, the tour ended and Kaoru Kamiya reconfirmed where she was to present herself in the morning and bid the two doctors goodbye. As Aoshi and Megumi rode the elevator down to go home, Megumi couldn't help but break the awkward silence and engaged the stoic man in conversation.

"What do you think Aoshi? Good choice?"

"Very quick. Great addition to our credibility."

"I didn't mean her research capabilities."

"She has never come close to crossing her Hippocratic oath."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"Yes."

Sigh.

"She doesn't need to get involved in that business."

"She will make it her business."

"Not if we are truly careful to hide it from her."

Aoshi would have rolled his eyes if he deemed it worth the effort.

"You had just, moments ago, implied something that has piqued her interest and work ethic. The time for caution is done. I suggest damage control."

"Oh come on, she would never think of it."

"She's far more intuitive than you think her capable."

"How do you say so?"

"Her way of thinking is very logical—process of elimination, a firm believer in Occam's razor. She will only ask questions until she has enough to confirm her slightest suspicions…"

"Huh?"

"…And she never asked why I, a psychologist, am part of the group. My dear Dr. Takani, _she already knows._"

* * *

He was consumed in darkness since his eyes were so sensitive to the light. The last few days were tiring though he remembered very little of it. In fact, he almost couldn't remember anything at all during his sporadic moments of consciousness such as this. He even once doubted his very existence and fancied himself as a consciousness, or a mayhap a ghost, lost in some universe. Nothing made much sense, except for the darkness. It was comfortable. It was quiet. He was content. He would go in and out of sleep and time was nothing more but a figment of his imagination. 

But came that fateful moment that disturbed his ignorant and blissful silence.

A soft light, a glow in the far end of the place he was in, immediately caught his eye.

_What was that? It sounds like a... door knob?_

A door knob being turned and finding itself locked. He focused on the light instead, the soft glow of a... a match. He was so sensitive, he could smell the smoke of it from the other side of the room. Several feet away from his..._bed? _And for the first time in months, he clutched his sheets and realized that he had a_ hand_. And that he could use it. He realized he had a body and that this body was laid on top of soft sheets and a mattress. He had legs as well, and at the mere thought of it he felt a singing sensation, as if the function of the limb depended on his acknowledgement. A way to turn it on.

But almost as suddenly, the light went away, with a soft padding of footsteps. Thoughts swirled along his consciousness and he could almost envision a long black ponytail, swaying gently in frustration, _existing_ behind whatever obstacle it was that separated the inside from the outside.. He could feel… female. He could almost smell…_jasmine_. Yet his body still lay immobile, and after a while of indecision, time passed, and he doubted it ever actually happened.

But the doubt was there and he knew that if the doubt existed, _something must have caused it._

Outside, far from the dark room, a monitor beeped. Before then, it only showed the neurotic activity of a body in coma. Yet this brain was no longer dormant, and the pulse rate slowly but steadily quickened.

Then there was consciousness once again, yet it wasn't a light that woke him up this time. But a very warm hand. In semi-darkness, his eyes adjusted to see an exquisite face.

"Hello there." She gently moved his bangs away from his eyes. She squinted as she eagerly studied his form, taking note of his almost-hollowed jaws but bright amethyst eyes.

"H—hi..." he hoarsely whispered back out of instinct, letting him know that he had in fact talked like this before.

"My name's Kaoru, what's yours?" She took her hand away and laid her chin on it, as she leaned towards him on his bed. A smile flitted across her features as he blinked twice, as if truly questioning her existence.

"I… don't remember."

"It's Kenshin." She said knowingly, nodding gently as she cupped his chin now with both hands and giving him a most encouraging smile. "Your name is Kenshin."

"Kenshin."

* * *

Kaoru was analyzing the vial in her hands as Dr. Yumi Komagata walked into the immaculate lab. Kaoru nodded in acknowledgement and went back to distributing the vial's contents onto several glass slides. 

"Here's a new batch of nanoshells to test with your latest results."

"Dr. Komagata?"

"Yes?"

"When will I be able to meet with Dr. Makoto?"

"Shortly, Dr. Kamiya. Enishi will come in soon to oversee your upcoming experimentation."

"Oh, thank you for telling me."

Shortly after Komagata left the room, Enishi came in with a cage in hand and a small leather case in another. Kaoru at first was confused as Enishi laid the cage on the steel table, but recognition shortly dawned upon her as he opened the leather case. Gleaming scalpels, vices, and several other sharp objects came into view, gleaming malevolently blue.

"Intravenous surgery," was all he said to her.

Kaoru nodded and almost swallowed, but caught herself as Enishi eyed her cautiously. Kaoru had much experience in surgery, having been a very successful neurosurgeon, but she had been peppered and pressured by the group to come up with real results with her experimentation. She had very little nerve when she knew that whatever she was handling was going to die in the end anyways.

Setting up the dissection table, Enishi injected 10 milliliters of anesthesia into two white mice. He pointed at the transmission microscope, at which Kaoru clicked her heels in almost mock salutation and acknowledgement of the command. After having worked with the research group for a half a year, they knew she couldn't touch the mice when they were fully conscious. Therefore she was left the menial task of setting up the make-shift cytometer—a device made to observe particles in flow—with the transmission microscope and the laser they had brought into Kaoru's personal lab. Working efficiently with Enishi, they prepared their first dissection in less than 15 minutes. Enishi, having fully shaved the two mice beckoned to Kaoru with a finger. He wasn't about to hog all the fun of course.

"Are they—"

"You can't even see them breathing. Just like dolls."

Kaoru nodded. She came to Enishi's side and grasped the vice that he held out for her. Without even warning her, Enishi quickly and keenly sliced open the chest of one mice, letting Kaoru clamor with the vice. Enishi shot her a mischievious smile. Kaoru retorted with a glare, to which he murmured a small apology. Once she had the vice in place to open the mouse's ribs, Kaoru twisted the knob giving both of them a full view of the mouse's heart and lungs. Kaoru felt her instincts take over, as a small part of her went to the back of her mind, cowering in one dark corner. From that moment on, she was objective and robotic. Accuracy was her goal, perfection her world. Enishi glanced at the sight and almost immediately chose the right artery with a pair of small delicate pliers. Holding it out, Kaoru clamped both ends and severed the vessel. A few more snipping and connecting, they had regained blood circulation but with a synthetic extension of the artery that fed the blood flow into the laser-guided microscope.

They did the same to the other mouse and confirmed that the flow was similar in both extensions in the monitoring device. Powering the microscope up to the point where they could see individual cells, they saw that there was almost no difference in flow.

"This is it, Dr. Kamiya. Let us see if you're in vitro tests have led us to the right results."

And with a nod of the head, Enishi turned the laser on as Kaoru injected one mouse three milliliters of her most recent work.

For almost thirty minutes, nothing was detected by their monitoring device nor by their own eyes on the screen. The red blood cells from both mice looked exactly alike and nothing was different between the two arterial-synthetic extensions. Enishi sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Kaoru, perhaps—"

"Give me the controls, Enishi."

Taken aback, Enishi quietly gave her the control of the laser. Kaoru twiddled with the levers and pressed a few buttons, lowering the frequency to infrared and sharpening the focus of the laser point on the second extension. Refocusing the laser, the device beeped slowly at first, and then with an almost excruciatingly high note, it went off as if it were monitoring the flat-lining of a dead patient. Only this time, Kaoru's emotional lurch was far from depression.

Sparkles of light can be distinctly seen on the monitor, and after refocusing the microscope on the second mouse's arterial flow, neither of the two doctors could believe their eyes. At nanoscale magnification, Kaoru and Enishi became the first witnesses of structurally reinforced cells. A distinct gold crystal structure ornamented the innards of almost each cell. After a few minutes of panicked and almost automatic note-taking of data and results, both doctors stood back and viewed the fruit of their sleepless nights.

"Enishi..."

"Kaoru, we did it. WE DID IT!" Enishi grabbed a hold of Kaoru's waist and swung her around joyously. As he set her feet back on their floor, their eyes caught. Meeting him halfway as he leaned down, Kaoru reached up and buried her hands into his hair as she, on impulse, answered his questioning gaze. A gaze that had gone unanswered ever since their acquaintance started, but in the presence of amazing success. Kaoru felt like she could kiss him and so she did. The kiss went on until a knock and the sound of an opening door brought them back to reality.

"Hey Yukishiro, I see you and Jou-chan are a little busy, but you're needed." The crass figure of Sanosuke Sagara leaning on the door frame was completely unwelcome in Kaoru's eyes, but Enishi became even more excited as Sagara delivered his message.

"Don't tell anyone yet."

"Tell anyone what?" Kaoru smiled.

"Exactly." Touching her nose lightly in a fond manner, he leaned down to kiss her forehead and whispered into her ear "we'll finish up later, hmm?" Kaoru almost right then and there rejected the whole concept of anything beyond a professional relationship with the man before her. But she hesitated, not really understanding why she hesitated. Anyway, Sanosuke's rambling distracted her.

"I thought you were already finished with the experiment with the way you two were celebrating, but that's really none of my business is it?" Sagara tapped his foot impatiently as he opened the door even wider.

"Unbelievable. Sagara, you are at the moment, the most irritating person I know." Yukishiro stated amusedly as he walked out of the lab and into the hall with Sanosuke.

"Comes with the good looks. Most men can't take the truth."

Kaoru followed the two men out, if only to listen to their daily banter.

"You're saying I'm threatened by _your_ looks?" incredulity was never more obvious in Enishi's voice.

"Yes. See, if Jou-chan weren't so busy saving the world with her colored water, I'd seduce her in a second. Plus, I'm no masochist."

Kaoru clenched her fist, her hands itching for some object to throw at the man.

"Really? I suppose Megumi's nails are just for tickling then."

Sanosuke's blood drained from his face.

"She must be all hugs and cuddles. That paddle she has in her office must be for ornamental purposes only." Enishi winked.

"How in the—" Sanosuke's cheeks turned dark red as Enishi continued.

"You must have gotten that bite somewhere else. Funny, it looks almost like a person's bite marks."

"HEY! At least I'm getting some. Racoon-girl probably just gets off on her test tubes, the prude that she is."

Enishi laughed as he stepped out of the path of a flying shoe. Aimed directly at Sanosuke's nose.

* * *

Dr. Yumi Komagata left the fifth floor in an exhausted state. She had been cooped up in her lab for almost three days now and had not had sleep in the meantime. She had agreed to meet Megumi in her office to bring in her latest test results. Walking in without knocking, she almost fervently laid a large bulky manila folder on Megumi's paper-flooded desk 

"He's finally coming back." Yumi murmured, excited.

"Good, it's been a while since he last gained consciousness. I'm glad you're experienced in waking people from comas."

"It is a forgotten art. However, we have a small problem."

"Kamiya still hasn't reported to me, I hope you didn't use her earlier batch. I told you, that mixture had a negative and an interpreted painful effect—"

"I did use it. I needed to see—"

"Komagata, I told you not—"

"I don't care. I'm not here to argue that thing's feelings." Yumi stated pointedly.

"That thing is a _man_."

"Not when he signed off that contract. He is technically property of the government, and under the power—"

"You will not knowingly cause pain to him again. Am I clear?"

Yumi glared hard at Takani, but finally closed her eyes and sighed her assent.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me then?" Takani resumed signing the papers she was in the middle of reviewing when Yumi walked in.

"Well, in the midst of the incoherent babble—

"Screams of pain, I imagine." Megumi muttered to herself.

"—he subconsciously and repeatedly mentioned the name of one of our colleagues. Almost as if asking for help."

Megumi gasped slightly and keenly stared at Yumi's figure. She had her arms folded and her face, reminiscent of her experimentation, was in sadistic relish of the irony.

"He repeatedly called out for '_Kaoru_'."

* * *

Hehe. Evil much? 

I still don't know. I've gotten varied reviews and I have no idea if you guys can even follow. I'd like to simplify the timeline, but that might mean simplifying the plot. I'm not willing to compromise that, so either I write it as fanfiction or as a personal creation for personal entertainment purposes. So please, feel free to flame or at least tell me how I can make it easier to follow.


	3. Encephalon

**A/N:**Despite the advice of some of my reviewers, I had a hard time keeping the terminology to a minimal. I really tried. Please believe me and just skip over the parts that are a little too 'brainy' (excuse the pun, you won't understand it until the end). Submit a review or PM me if you want me to explain. I will promptly answer, I promise. Wikipedia is a very helpful tool, by the way, but not always.

**Disclaimers: **I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or the song "In Too Deep" by Sum41.

* * *

**Chapter Three: Encephalon**

_**Fall of second year, 7 months have passed since Kamiya's first successful tests**_

"'_Cause I'm in too deep and I'm trying to keep up above in my head instead from going under…"_

Probably the worst habit she had picked up in college: listening to music while isolating lymphocytes. She flicked the end of the syringe once or twice before injecting its contents into a resealable polymer tube for the centrifuge. As she let the machine do its job, she let the rhythm of the song infect her fingers as she typed up the rest of her report on her laptop.

"… _the results were positive. The application of J-Prostaglandin to induce apoptotic cell death yielded instead a reaction that has never before been noted in any published scientific paper concerning programmed cell deaths (PCD). Any cell that has been exposed to the K-109 chemical mentioned in this paper, would at first go through the first few stages of apoptosis (normal PCD) but would almost immediately reverse the cycle, ending with a perfectly healthy cell and the prostaglandin was isolated and outside of the cell body in a macromolecule via Golgi bodies…_

_Necrosis was also attempted in futility. A similar reaction happened. After several other trials including chemicals, bacteria, and viruses, the pre-exposure to K-109 of the cell seems to guarantee a make-shift immunity to anything. The usage of this chemical does not stop at vaccination, however. There is overwhelming evidence that it could be used as a cure to almost any viral and bacterial ailment known to man…"_

As she continued the report that she was to submit to Enishi in the morning, she felt a sinking sensation as she realized the ramifications of her discovery. When she finished her report, she saved it and closed the program. She stared hard at the desktop of her computer, where she had saved her report.

After what seemed several hours of self-conflict, she deleted the file.

For the rest of the night, Kaoru Kamiya, Ph.D. spent hours undoing what she had been doing for the past year, the perfection of K-109. Since her first in vivo test with Enishi with the rat, she had made her creation more effective—almost unnerving Megumi with her extreme dedication to her work. Now, she was erasing it all. The last remaining remnants of her work she kept in a small USB that hung low around her neck, hidden within her undershirt. Her vials of finished product she still kept, but everything else that lead up to her success was burnt or properly disposed off.

Once she was done, she began the painful process of fabricating data.

* * *

_**The next morning**_

"Good morning, Kaoru." Enishi wrapped his arm around her waist as she typed away on the computer.

"Please, Yukishiro, let me go." Irked from his lack of propriety, she elbowed the man behind her.

"Whaat?"

"Here's the report you wanted." She could have kicked him out of her lab then, but she was too exhausted to start an argument with the man.

"Thank you. You know, I still have yet to take you out to dinner. It's been about seven months—well five, officially—and we have yet to celebrate our discovery"

Kaoru didn't say anything as Enishi skimmed through the report. Silence filled the room as Enishi read and reread the conclusion.

"Are you sure of this, Kaoru?"

"… the results were that the chemical lost its efficiency after a certain time. Even after the extraction of any alien body (i.e. virus, bacteria), the crystal structure slowly dissolved, allowing for the infection to happen once more, since the response time of the surrounding cells are inevitably different from that of the target cell allowing for the contagion to affect any cell surrounding it."

"Yeah. Here's the data on that particular set of experiments." Kaoru handed Enishi a whole binder dating from March to April of that year. Enishi winced as he took the heavy binder from her hands.

"Yeah, I'll look at that later," murmured Enishi, half-heartedly, as he set the cumbersome object aside. "So Kaoru, about dinner?"

"Listen, Enishi—"

"Oye, Yukishiro, you're needed again! Good morning, Jou-chan." Sagara, with the fishbone in his mouth and his usual slouch, greeted Kaoru with his trademark smirk as he held the door open for Enishi. Kaoru made no effort to disguise her sigh of irritation, which Enishi misinterpreted.

"We can talk later." With an apologetic look, Enishi left the room. Sano closed the door behind him as he walked nearer to the edgy doctor to look over her shoulder.

"I take it you were about to break his heart, only I had perfect timing."

"Excruciatingly perfect, Sano."

"Man… you're luck sucks."

"What are you still doing here, chicken-brain?"

Kaoru didn't know whether it was her usage of Megumi's nickname for him or the look that she gave Sano that made him shut up. Though after a few moments of silence, Sano came closer to the half-awake doctor and handed her a key.

"What is this?"

"You know what it is."

"I—I don't know what you're talking about." Kaoru snapped irritably as she turned back to her computer, trying to type up the last of her reports and departmental memos.

"Also, if you are going to be digging more information on him too, Megumi's files aren't going to help much."

"Sano, you are distracting me."

"Aoshi usually leaves his office at five to report daily to Megumi. _His_ door you can easily pick-lock."

"I—"

"Why Aoshi, you ask. Because unlike any other research group that claims to be experimenting on lab rats exclusively, this research group has a human psychiatrist. That, plus a very well-locked room on the fifth floor should always tell you to snoop around in the shrink's office first."

"Sano."

"Kaoru." For what seemed like hours, there existed a stand-still between the two most stubborn people in the building.

"I only saw him once. How did you know?" Never letting her eyes wander away from her computer screen, she had begun to type nonsense on her computer, completely distracted

Sano leaned back on the table, folding his arms. "It's my job to know. What kind of head of security would I be if I didn't know everything about this building's secrets?"

"Why are you doing this then?"

"Because I believe my job also extends to protecting _human rights_ as well."

"Why now?"

"I'm about to leave for business out of town. I'm going with the boss this Friday on a trip and I've somehow wormed my way up to his good graces. Since I'm leaving, they're putting in a replacement head of security until I come back." Sano turned to fully look her in the eyes. "It would be a lot easier for you to snoop around if _I'm_ not in this building." Sano grinned smugly at the doctor and started to walk out the door. "I'll see you later then. Have fun at dinner." And without letting the doctor defend herself again, Sano left.

Kaoru looked at the key on her table. After a moment's hesitation, she set an alarm on her watch for five o'clock. It was true that she had not seen the bright-eyed stranger on the fifth floor for almost a year. It was also true that she had taken Megumi's files and made copies of it, but all it offered was his name, some history, and several referrals of almost unrelated nature. If she were to see him again, she deduced, it was best if she took Sano's advice.

* * *

"Why does it not work, Enishi?" Dr. Yumi Komagata, Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, took one glance at the monitoring device and scowled at the rat she was currently shaving. Having run out of lymph to use, she had eagerly volunteered to collect the rat's blood for the current experiment while Dr. Enishi Yukishiro attempted to repeat his alleged success with Dr. Kamiya. 

"I wasn't able to observe Kamiya carefully when she reconfigured the laser. She must have changed the setting to a far lower frequency than I would have guessed." Playing with the overly sensitive controls, Enishi groaned when he missed the vein and botched the whole thing.

"If you weren't so distracted with that _girl_—"

"_That _is entirely none of your business, Komagata."

"When it hinders my job, Yukishiro, it _becomes_ my business."

"And when your personal matters start interfering with the overall results of this experiment, it becomes _mine._" Dr. Aoshi Shinomori stated, quite suddenly, as he entered the half-lit laboratory of Yumi Komagata. He placed one hand on the enormous glass case before him that contained the source of their problems.

"Consciousness?" he asked without looking at either doctors.

"None since maybe a year now. In fact, that was the only time."

"During you're suspicious off-record experimentations" Yukishiro muttered.

"Have you tried bringing the patient out of coma?" Aoshi continued to circle the glass case, taking notes periodically.

"What do you think I've been doing?" Komagata unnecessarily slit the throat of the rat once she was done in frustration at Aoshi's implication of her incompetence. Aoshi Shinomori, however, didn't answer, letting the rhetorical question sink in.

"I don't think you can fairly take credit for bringing him out of coma the first time, Dr. Komagata."

"You have nothing to say, Enishi. I at least can own up to the fact that I am stuck. You, on the other hand, still wonder why you can't make the damn chemical take effect. You want to know why this is?"

"_Please_ enlighten me, Dr. Komagata." Enishi spat, his voice bordering upon shouting.

"It's because you're a _leech_." Yumi continued to use the scalpel on the dissection table before her, cutting open another mouse to repeat the experiment with. "You take advantage of people and you only stick around when you think it could benefit you. But you don't actually do anything, no. You, you suck for whatever it's worth and claim it as your own. You're as much a leech as that little girl is—"

"_You don't deserve to even mention her," _Enishi, in one move of inhuman speed, had a bloodied scalpel up to Yumi's neck.

"Enough," Aoshi simply said, at which the two made a show of backing away from each other. "I am meeting Takani in my office in thirty minutes. The two of you need to put back the patient in his own room, and make sure you lock the door. I will give Takani you're individual reports once we've gone over the latest grant. In the meantime, Enishi, you will work with Yumi until you've successfully repeated Dr. Kamiya's success."

"I was _part _of that success."

"Your statement will be duly noted. Please excuse me, I have agreed to meet Megumi in her office. Now."

Dr. Shinomori left his colleagues and strode confidently up to the 8th floor, where the departmental head offices were. As he walked into her office, Megumi's secretary greeted Aoshi and informed him that Megumi was going to meet him in his office instead. With a nod of acknowledgement he bid her a good day and at 5:15 P.M., he turned his office lock and let himself and Megumi in. Calmly he walked in and took off his blazer, setting it upon his chair. Megumi settled her small stack of papers on Aoshi's desk and made herself comfortable, knowing that the afternoon was going to be long and stressful. Money was truly too much of a hassle.

"Is there something wrong, Aoshi?" Megumi had noticed that Aoshi's usually fluid movements had somewhat paused for a moment in front of his filing cabinet.

"Megumi, are you wearing perfume today?"

"Yes. Funny you should notice it now."

"Really?"

"Well, I've always worn it. Peach blossoms."

"Ah."

He took out the file he was looking for and settled into his chair. Then off-handedly he said slowly,

"It is funny. I almost assumed you wore jasmine."

* * *

_**That night **_

Jasmine filled his senses as he brought her up to her room, carrying her up the stairs with a smug grin. He was so distracted with the thoughts going through his head, the results of that night's conversation slowly being incorporated into a plan that will save _her_.

"Sleep well, Kaoru. You deserve it."

Not even bothering to cover her with a blanket, he left her house as he called the security office of the building he worked in. Enishi haphazardly parked the car in front of the building and gave his car keys to the night guard. With an almost sinister enthusiasm in his stride, he took very little time to arrive in front of Kamiya's lab.

"Dr. Yukishiro," said a figure leaning on the wall, his face hidden in shadow.

"I am he. You must be the stand-in for Sagara. Did you get the keys for this room?" Enishi held out his hand in anticipation.

"Yes." The glint of pewter landed in Enishi's hand.

"Ah, thank you very much." Enishi overrode the I.D. security card slot with the master key and let himself in to Kaoru Kamiya's office. But before he completely lost himself in anticipation, he looked back at the still figure, leaning on the wall.

"I might take some time, so how can I give this key back to you? Can I just have it delivered to you, Officer…?"

"Yes. Officer Saitoh Hajime. Please put it an envelope with my name on it. That should ensure its safety."

"Thank you, Officer Hajime. Also, I'm sure we'll be introduced again in the morning, I would appreciate it if—"

"My orders were to _discretely_ assist you in anything. Have a good night, doctor."

Enishi didn't give a moment's thought on how the man's face never made it past the shadows.

* * *

_**Next morning**_

Kaoru woke up with an unbearable headache. Dragging herself to her office, she almost had a heart-attack when she suddenly saw Enishi Yukishiro patiently and confidently waiting for her at the door.

"Good morning, Kaoru."

"Enishi!? I—What—last night—" Pure frustration overcame her ability to coherently express herself as all the worries of her morning came down on her with that man's simple smile.

"Kaoru, breathe. Just breathe."

"HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE?"

"I know you're mad at me, but I tried to stop you from drinking too much."

"I woke up with a hangover this morning, Enishi. Do you know how rare that is?" Angrily she turned the key of her lock with unnecessary strength and stumbled into her office, Enishi close behind.

"How would I know you liked strawberry daiquiris?" Enishi said incredulously.

"I have never had a strawberry da-watchamacallit, but I do know that I don't ever—"

"_Never ever?"_ Enishi smiled teasingly as he took one of the swivel chairs by the counter.

"Listen. Whatever I said, or didn't say, did or didn't do, it was all just a mistake last night okay? And also, if I hadn't made it clear last night, I wasn't really interested in a relationship right now. I'm a little busy, as you can see and I don't know if I could—" Kaoru had rushed through her pseudo-confession until Enishi cut her off.

"Don't worry about that. You did make it clear." Enishi mumbled to the floor with a sad smile. "Sorry about last night, I tried to stop you but in the end—"

"_And thank you for bringing me home_." Kaoru said hurriedly, using her gratitude as a counterweight to the guilt of finally having to reject Enishi—a suitor she had never truly dealt with when she met him in brain school.

"You're welcome." He had a full day, so he quickly ended the conversation with a sincere, "Good day, Kaoru," and left her lab. Kaoru however, chased after him when her mind cleared up after a second.

"Wait, we scheduled a dissection today, didn't we?"

"Yes, but unfortunately I'm needed again upstairs."

"Okay, later then."

Kaoru sat on her computer and opened a logging program that she had created two nights ago. It was a clever program that recorded all the activities on her office computer. She smiled arrogantly as she traced her perpetrators movements through her files on her hardware last night, his search ending in futility. She fingered the long chain on her neck, letting its coolness comfort what's left of her nerves from last night's dinner. As for the new head of security she had met that morning, she was glad that Sano took a moment before his flight to call her, directing her to look him up on the computer database. She shivered as his I.D. picture crossed her mind. There was something about his malevolent eyes that told her he knew how to kill.

* * *

_**Second year, November, **__**two months since dinner with Kaoru**_

Enishi shouted in relief when he finally showed Aoshi and Yumi how the crystalline structure of the K-109 embedded in the red blood cells revealed itself with the little information he was able to squeeze out of the inebriated talk with Kamiya. After being congratulated, half-heartedly by Komagata, and nodded at, by Shinomori, Enishi went up to his own personal lab. Looking at a familiar picture of a young girl with black hair and tender eyes that sat on his desk, he allowed himself a moment of sincere gratitude at whatever divinity that was guiding him.

"It comes to this, Kamiya. I trust you, but not when it comes to _her_."

He took the picture out of its frame and tucked it safely into his pocket. He took the one vial of K-109 he had asked of Kamiya and started to scrutinize its structural detail once again—on his own for the first time.

* * *

Weeks had gone by and, for a while, Kaoru would only see Enishi with Yumi Komagata. He would greet her in the hallways, but he was always in a hurry. Kaoru shrugged it off and continued to report to Megumi about her findings. 

Yet when she discovered, on one fateful afternoon, that Enishi and Yumi have been visiting the 5th floor a little more often than normal, Kaoru Kamiya decided to pay a visit to a room she barely remembered. She had pored over the copy she made of Shinomori's files, memorizing the whole folder by heart by the time she was done with it. She burned it up afterwards, as a precaution, but, against her own better judgment, she kept a picture. A very old one. It was the picture of the patient, ten years before. "_The patient_." She hadn't been able to see him the past year, and it was along this line of thoughts that she realized she had been working for almost two years without seeing Makoto.

But that was hardly among the list of her problems at the moment.

She walked into the dark room and placed a hand on chilled skin, letting her fingers caress the smooth jaw she yearned to see in daylight.

"_Yearn? Kaoru, really. That's so cliché…"_ she thought to herself.

"Kaoru." Bright amethyst eyes opened sleepily at her touch, interrupting her self-conflict.

"Hello, Kenshin, it's been awhile." She responded with a smile. "How have you been?"

"I… don't really remember much..." His voice faded as sleep threatened to overcome him again. But Kaoru wasn't going to let go. She gently turned his face towards her. As she leaned in closer for a better look, she almost gasped in surprise.

Around Kenshin's iris was a hint of gold. _Gold_. A color sought after in her line of work.

"_The crystalline structure may not be seen in ordinary light, a transmission microscope and the latest microscopy techniques are used to pinpoint cells that have been transformed. However, an easier way to tag such cells is to conjugate them with nanoparticles—gold preferably. It has very low toxicity, unlike carbon buckyballs, and is relatively easy to shape into different shapes for specific purposes. In the conclusion of this paper, it will be made clear how nanoparticle conjugation will be of the utmost importance for further research with K-109."_

"Miss Kaoru?"

"I just think your eyes are beautiful." She said gently, as she combed her fingers through his hair—treating him like a child patient of hers about to undergo rehab. Encouragement and assurance was key or they might lose the will to live.

Kenshin smiled weakly. "So are yours." With those simple words, Kenshin went back to a light-hearted sleep, the smile still pulling on his lips.

Kaoru had to pull her hands away from his face so that she could start working. She didn't have long before Enishi got back. She pulled out a syringe and took samples of his blood. She also performed a check up of his whole body, lightly moving his limbs around as she checked his reflexes, ears, eyes, and heartbeat. When she was done, she took his hand and laid a kiss in his palm for luck. Whether she only just imagined it, the slight gasp from his lips was more than enough to persuade her to make check-up visits more often.

* * *

_**Christmas of 2**__**nd**__** year. Sagara returns with the boss.**_

Yumi Komagata reveled in the presence _he_ graced her with. Sanosuke almost puked from it. He combed his fingers through his spiked hair and wondered what she could possibly have seen in him. Not a piece of skin—besides the area near his eyes, nose, and mouth—can be seen through the wrappings they called "bandages." The cloth that enclosed him had been dipped in a eumelanin-based polymer—a sort of skin pigment with electrolytic potential—something that some doctor had conjured up in some small strange country. This chemical provided for Makoto's lack of a skin and much more. He hopped down from the helicopter and aided his boss from his seat. Looking up, he saw the whole gang (minus Kamiya) patiently waiting to welcome them home. Fighting the extreme urge to pinch his nose, Sagara held up the man's hand as he ungainly stepped down from the helicopter.

"_He probably feeds on extreme amounts of painkillers everyday and uses formaldehyde as lotion. I don't give a damn that he hasn't died yet, I'd wear black for the sheer smell of him."_ Sagara thought to himself as he subtly wiped his hands on a handkerchief. True enough to his own thoughts; Sano had dressed in sleek black for the occasion. Yumi Komagata however, preferred a ridiculously low-cut red cocktail dress.

"_Where does she think he's going to take her? A party? Newsflash, woman, Halloween was two months ago."_

Takani, Shinomori, and Yukishiro waited slightly behind the overly eager Yumi. They were dressed professionally in a myriad of dark blues and grays. Sanosuke Sagara tried _not_ to look at Megumi's skirt. She never wore skirts unless the boss was around. Pant-suits were her normal attire, but today she was being a minx without knowing it and Sanosuke Sagara really couldn't afford any distractions since he was _supposed_ to be the boss's right-hand man/guard/errand boy. Trying for a casual stride, he tried to hide behind Makoto's shadow so he could at least steal a glance or two at _those_ porcelain legs.

"Dr. Makoto?"

"Yumi. It is I."

"_Hold up! Did he just say 'it is I'?! Those painkillers must be stronger than I thought. Never mind his skin, somebody burned his brain in acid. Where's a brain surgeon when you need one? Kaoru, I wish you were here, this one needs a lot of work."_

"Makoto, it is a relief that you made it through the operation." Megumi offered as she welcomed him back.

"_That's right, fox, you can lie through this one for us. Don't let Shinomori talk. You know he has too much honor to even say he likes Makoto. Gasp Did I just see Shinomori's nose wiggle?"_

"We've been anxiously waiting for you, Dr. Makoto. I, personally, wanted your opinion on the current side-project that I and a colleague have been working on." Enishi said as Makoto greeted him.

"_Do what you do best, Enishi. Suck…. Up"._

Makoto merely nodded in acknowledgement and took Yumi's arm. He walked past the others, knowing full well that all of them would follow him…

_--Attempting to sarcastically fake Makoto's arrogant voice in his own mind-- _

_"Soon, my minions…. I shall reward each and every one of you with a piece of my band-aids. You shall have a piece of the miracle-cloth that is keeping me alive. And for you, delicious Yumi, you shall have a piece from near my—"_

"Sagara, take care of the helicopter and see me in the morning in the new office. For the rest of you, the ride back to my place will provide enough time for us to meet and make decisions until next quarter's meeting. I trust Megumi has everything in order for me to sign?"

"Of course."

"Good. It is marvelous to be home again." He looked intently and directly at Yumi as he said these last words.

Sanosuke tried not to snicker while he did as he was told, making a mental note to ask what Megumi's perfume was so that he could snuff it up before he sees Makoto in the morning.

* * *

_**New Year's eve, going into the third year.**_

After several visits with Kenshin during the holidays (when the entire research department of the building was _closed_), Kaoru had successfully nursed him to being able to take in liquids again. He had been living on dextrose and other sugar-protein synthetics for so long that he had lost the capability to swallow.

"To the new year, Kenshin." She toasted his glass of water with her own of apple juice and together they drank their way into the new year. Still not able to use his voice as much, Kenshin merely smiled at Kaoru. After finishing their drinks, Kaoru started to clean up the small easy dinner she had arranged for Kenshin. When all was set, she placed her hand upon his and squeezed firmly.

"Good night, Kenshin. I'll try to visit soon…" she faded off as she started to leave the room.

"Dr. Kaoru?" His voice hoarse and a little forced.

"Yes?" Kaoru quickly entered the room once again, closing the door behind her.

"I—The things you have told me, are they about to happen?"

"Yes…But Kenshin, they don't have to. We talked about this, I can—"

"When?" Kenshin asked, not letting her go into escaping once again. He was under contract, he knew.

"_Tomorrow."_

All the lights within the room suddenly turned on, and on the other side of the room was a one-sided mirror. It was a similar mirror used to observe prisoners in an asylum, or in their case, a subject of research.

The voice was undoubtedly Komagata's.

Kenshin groaned loudly as the light flooded his tender eyesight. Kaoru had never opened them to their full extent for fear of traumatizing his eyes permanently. He had no choice but to close his eyes.

"No! Komagata, close the lights immediately!"

"Kaoru, that truly is sweet of you. But now that my project is awake, I really cannot afford to postpone my work any longer. Have you been nursing him since the building closed? Or had it been longer than that?"

Kaoru refused to answer to a piece of glass. She stood her ground and folded her arms to patiently wait-out the people who had been rudely watching them for who knows how long that night. Soon enough, the mirror divided into two and revealed a common glass wall instead. Inside she could see all of them. Takani and Shinomori had schooled their faces into indifference. Komagata's was patronizingly steely. Enishi's was that of incredulity. And one other face entered her vision as the mirror slid away further. Saitoh Hajime had a small smile.

"I don't think we should waste any more time, don't you agree Megumi?" Komagata's voice was sickeningly bubbly. Megumi gave a sharp nod of agreement, at which Shinomori quickly left the observation room, so that there were only four of them on the other side. Kaoru did the math over and over again. No chance of escaping now…

"I know that look, Kamiya." Enishi spoke up for the first time that evening. "You should know that you can't do it."

"Is that a threat, Yukishiro?"

"No, I really mean you can't smuggle him out of here."

"And why is that?"

"In the foundation of this specific floor there exists a generator that creates a specially contained EM field. This field not only directs overly-polarized nanoparticles, it also provides a current to power up the particles and keep them functioning."

The glasses breaking, upon its collision with the floor, echoed in the room, overwhelming the gasp of the one who dropped it.

"The minute he leaves the fifth floor, not only will his cells start to chronically disintegrate he—

"Will go into cardiac arrest and will lose all neurotic control over his body…"

"You've been doing your own research on him, I see." Komagata laughed. "Isn't it grand, Kamiya? The mechanics of the cells within—"

"How can I have not seen this? An electric-magnetic field controlling the particles, keeping the cells together." Kaoru closed her fist as she saw it all come together. "That's why you brought me in. My past research in K-109 can keep the cells alive, keep it from falling apart. But—I only provide cellular homeostasis. What about control of the particles? No human mind can direct alien particles…" She had gone so deep into her thoughts she had momentarily forgotten she had an audience to her voiced logic, until Megumi spoke.

"I'm impressed, Kamiya. You're already thinking about the only thing we have so far accomplished. Neurological control. Enishi here has worked hard with Shinomori in the past, but he had been so disconnected with the newer methods of brain surgery that—"

"Another reason why I'm here." She muttered dejectedly, ashamed of herself at how slow she was catching on. "You've come up with a way, with some device, to control the nanoparticles in his body. And you need me to implement it into his nervous system."

"Yes."

"This. I never agreed to _this_." The tension became so palpable in the room that Megumi was forced to speak up.

"I need to speak to Kamiya alone."

"_What?"_ Komagata exclaimed, her fun in seeing Kaoru's sinking spirits terribly interrupted. She knew that the only reason Takani would ever want to speak to Kamiya alone was to keep her and the others in the dark.

"Now."

Grudgingly, Yumi Komagata was escorted out by the still-silent Saitoh Hajime. Enishi followed slowly, giving Kaoru one last incredulous glance. Once they were alone, Kaoru addressed Megumi directly.

"This is a little awkward, Megumi."

"What? The glass between us?"

"No… _Him_." Kaoru forlornly looked at the forgotten man.

"Oh!" Megumi had the grace to blush—confirming what both of them knew as truth. Kenshin was meant to be treated and thought of as a subject of experimentation only—it would be impossible otherwise, Kaoru gently thought, for Megumi to deal with her own conscience. She had known the woman long enough that she didn't like her job. Megumi gestured Kaoru to a hidden door on that side of the wall for her to slip into the observation room. She quietly exited the room, leaving Kenshin after she switched off the lights.

"Good night, Kaoru." He whispered, not wanting to hear the quiver in his own voice. He prepared himself for a night of nightmares. But Kaoru had slipped him sleeping pills in his water that night. He still needed rest, but ever since she started visiting him, he had complained about not wanting to go to sleep anymore. So Kaoru got clever and Kenshin slept as needed.

Kaoru faced Takani, thinking that the talk will last until dawn—

"We cannot talk long since you need your sleep."

"What? Why?"

"We will begin preparations for his brain operation tomorrow." Megumi held up a hand to silence her protests. "Whatever it is you're thinking or planning, you know he has to have subconscious control over his body. He is _completely dependent_ on the field that Yumi designed. You need to admit that this surgery will happen, with or without your help. Nothing you can do in the next 12 hours will change that. Unless you really are stupid and plan to smuggle him out tonight anyways."

"No…" Kaoru said as a tear slipped down her cheek. She didn't care—

"Don't do that!" A loud crack emitted from Megumi's hand upon Kaoru's face. Predictably, Kaoru shouted in anger and tried to tackle the woman who had the nerve to slap her.

"Good. Be angry, Kamiya. It is worth more than your pity or depression." Megumi, keeping her cool, was able to slam the outraged woman onto the wall and pin her. "Listen, carefully. When this discussion is over—and what I mean by discussion, I mean my giving of specific orders and your silent obedience—you will go home and _realize _that I'm right as always. He cannot leave the place. You don't know enough. There is _nothing_ you can do about it. Agree?"

Kaoru struggled some more, like some hurt animal not wanting to be tamed, but knowing in the end that it was all in vain.

"_Do you agree?_" Megumi bashed her body once again at the wall, trying to get through her stubborn head.

"Yes." With her voice cracking, she calmed down and lowered her head. "What is it that you want me to do?"

There was a knock on the door and Shinomori entered the room, handing Megumi a red filing folder. Old and creased, Kaoru gave it a short glance and almost laughed at the title in front. "DREAM Project."

"You will skim this lightly tonight, sleep well, and come back tomorrow afternoon. We start preparations at three-thirty sharp." Megumi said as she backed away from the less-spirited, but at least, more rational doctor. "Don't even think about sneaking into the building before then, I'll have your I.D. pass suspended until three in the afternoon. Saitoh will be keeping eyes on the building. You will realize, however you look at it, that he needs to gain control over his systems. No plan of escape will work unless that happens. Make this work for you Kamiya, help us and you help yourself. I won't say that you will succeed, but for the moment our means to the end is the same road. Shinomori, help her up."

"Ugh, don't even touch me." Irritated to a fault, Kaoru stubbornly refused all help as she picked herself up. Like a teenager who had recently lost a fight to her parents, she back-talked for the heck of it. "If we're starting at _three-thirty_, why don't you just have my pass sustained until then?"

Megumi stared at her pointedly and left the room. Shinomori then did something very strange.

He smiled at her encouragingly and winked.

* * *

"…_the function of the YT657 nanochip has been proven effective in several animal prototypes of the D.R.E.A.M . project, but the cranial structure of the animals used are obviously different from that of a human. Because of such complications, the particles—and its overall function—have never been tested to work in the human anatomy. In theory, when the YT657 nanochip is integrated into the cerebellum, and its 'tentacles' inserted into its corresponding area of the cerebrum, the nanoparticles conjugated to the cells will finally let cellular operation happen unhindered. There is the problem of 'consciousness' however. As it is known in the medical academia, the concept of consciousness is highly subjective and its form exists differently from one mammal to another. It is still highly debated where consciousness is located in the brain, or if it is controlled by the brain at all. However, it is this group's theory that when the YT657 is implemented into the subject, consciousness will be replaced with a pseudo-ego. All this is explained further in the last page of the report."_

Kaoru flipped to the last page, and to her disappointment, it had been ripped from the staple. In frustration, she threw report across her bedroom and made sure that her alarm is early enough for her to arrive at work at 2:50 in the afternoon, so that she could visit him before they started. She settled into her bed and tossed around for a while in her sheets.

"They didn't even say what D.R.E.A.M. stood for, imbeciles." Once again, she turned towards her alarm clock and reassured herself.

Fingering the chain around her neck, she flipped it around until she found her USB. Giving it a kiss for luck, she continued to look for something on her neck chain. Finally she found it. She closed her fist tightly around it and slept with it near her chest.

It was long after that night that she realized it had become the _key_ to her heart.

To be continued.

* * *

I really hope none of that went over your head. Please please please, tell me that you, my reader, can keep up and I can keep writing this. 

_**Here's a poll:**_

I have so far refrained from answering reviews in the story because I always thought that was a little too much. I, for one, do not like seeing my scroll bar having so much more to go only to find out that the rest of the page is for reviews. That always killed me when it was a good story and I thought it would continue on for a couple more minutes, only to find the rest of it dedicated to answering people.

However, I can't argue the fact that it is a lot easier in explaining certain things (such as definitions or details) on the story chapter than in private messages.

So, this is my poll.

Pick one of the letters below as an answer:

A. "I would like to see the answer to my questions on the last part of the next chapter."

B. "I like private messages better, so it's okay if you don't answer reviews in the last part of the next chapter."

Yeah, that means, to answer this poll, you will have to submit a review. :)


	4. A Frankenstein Moment

**A/N: **Just a small_ish_ comment on time. I know that many of you are still confused, so I'll just make the timeline as simplistic as possible. I'll mention months and the rate of change of time as I see fit, but to tell you the truth, it's just a way of measuring the story. The first part, as you've been reading, is according to Kaoru's contract. I'm trying to fit the four years in a few chapters, which consists of the first part of the story concentrating mostly on Kaoru's part. The second part of the story will be free from that four-year constraint and will be around Kenshin mostly. (So, no, Enishi's death is not even remotely close to the actual ending. I don't write sequels, so I'll actually END this story.) The reason for the four years is that research, operations, rehabilitation, really do take time. This is science fiction, so I can fudge it a little, but I want it to be close to reality as possible. It's all part of the illusion, in my mind. There really are moments in the story where it's just boring research and crud. I only write the highlights of those four years. And also, it's an easy way to develop a character. BTW, I want you guys to just keep in mind that there is a two-month gap between Kaoru's success on K-109 and her actual declaration of it. Remember? Enishi told Kaoru to not tell anyone about it? That comes in the _next chapter._ Maybe.

* * *

**A Frankenstein Moment**

She couldn't help it. Last night, Dr. Kamiya's voice was distinctly heard throughout the fifth floor, and what was a lowly secretary to do but check it out? The last 24 hours had been very interesting, considering that half of the most prestigious doctors in the building have been buzzing around the restricted floor like journalists who had just picked up the scent of highly illegal government-sponsored activity. Then again, that was _her _job.

Enter Misao Makimachi: snoop-extraordinaire for the _Democrat Gazette._

She had come in through the agency when the slightly feared Dr. Takani once again fired her assistant. So after having a few beers with some of her friends from college in the agency, she landed the job with nothing but an alleged associate degree from a local university. Her false profile also included that she was working on her law degree and was only a few credit hours away from graduation. The thing is, Misao Makimachi didn't need _another_ law degree. It was just another one of her hunches that this particular research group would probably want a secretary that could handle a little bit more than what an average Kate, Mary, or Sue could offer. But as an applicant for such a nominal position, she can't exactly say that she already had her bachelor's degree in law and a minor in journalism. Thus during her interview, she played off her strengths and covered her accomplishments. Subtlety was key.

It has long been rumored that this particular research company was in the pocket of a politician who was up for the presidential election in the next year. Unfortunately, the newspaper she was working for was currently in the pocket of another politician who wanted dirt on the candidate, so of course, Misao was just doing her job—and it wasn't for any kind of idealism that she was bound to slap on a banner and raise all hell for.

Misao sighed as she rounded the corner that morning into Takani's office. She hated assignments like these. What did she care if the politician on the other side was secretly funding a miracle drug and use it against the UN? It's too shallow for her tastes…

"Come on, are you telling me that our civilization, which by the way has been around for a little over than two thousand years, has finally come up with a cure-all and its going to stay in hiding just because some old man says so? Please_." _

If there was anything Misao Makimachi knew, it was _people_. She faked a cough as she stepped onto the fifth floor. She shook her head from side to side—looking as if she was just clearing her sinuses—but in truth she was making sure no one else saw her snoop around.

"There's two ways for this to story to break, how can it not? The doctor responsible probably put a lot of effort into it—hell, nobody even came close to what she had accomplished. She must be really passionate with her work, and we all know that _passion leads to motive_. Choice number 1: The doctor is greedy and will most likely sell the formula. Choice number 2: The doctor will most probably distribute the drug to some god-forsaken country and win a noble peace prize—without meaning to of course, but who says it never crosses the mind? There is no story. Just a party waiting to happen._" _

Misao looked at her watch. Perfect timing. All doctors who had access to the door before her were in a meeting, and the only other doctor who wasn't present in the meeting wasn't allowed in the building for another thirty-minutes. Or that's what security said, anyways. Scrounging around in her purse, she took out her "Almighty Skeleton Card," as dubbed by a friend hacker of hers over at the gazette, and prayed that it would let her in the restricted room. Slipping it into the security console of the door, she stepped into what she deduced as an observation booth. She made notes on the kind of devices inside it and thought they must be running a mini-ER from some of the things that were installed. Monitoring devices of all kinds had been tacked up onto the wall, each of them responsible for snitching on some vital organ's failure.

"What the…these are human vitals. But—isn't that…"

Her musings stopped so suddenly, she even forgot to breathe. Beyond the monitor that told of an excited heart-rate, she saw through the looking glass and found_ Choice Number 3._

"_The doctor is in love."_

* * *

Kaoru got in the building at 2:45 that afternoon after some persuasive flirting with the guard. Taking less than five minutes to race up the stairs and round the little corner before the room, she found herself huffing and panting as she almost broke the doorknob into Kenshin's room. 

"Kenshin?" She asked into the darkness with an almost pitiful voice.

"Dr. Kamiya."

Kaoru sighed in relief. She was so scared that Megumi had tricked her into coming in the afternoon so that they could start experiments in the morning without her. Once again, she found herself paying respect to Takani—even if all the fox did was tell her the truth. She walked towards the bed and did not even think twice before engulfing the man in a bear hug. She felt him gasp, but he dug his fingers deep into her hair as he daringly touched his nose to her warm neck, inhaling deep.

"I thought they might have—but it was all just a nightmare, I guess." She ended with a miserable attempt to laugh as she broke the embrace to look at him closely. "Kenshin, what's wrong?" As she looked at his face, she noted that his lips were slightly pale and he was in cold sweat.

Kenshin shook his head, trying to defer her from the answer—but in the end her will was stronger than his. He told her his story. The story of his life as a blood-assassin. Not once did he look her in the eye as he talked of his aliases—his call-names that would echo into the night and seem to call every bad spirit and demon that hears it. In the span of a moment, he gave her the essence of his life—or what he could remember of it—and his reason for being there.

"How do you remember so much now?" Kaoru whispered, her voice betraying nothing as she eyed Kenshin's lowered head. He wouldn't even let her see his face in his shame. She had settled back into a chair by his bed, clutching the sheets as she listened to his voice—breaking.

"My nightmares have finally caught up to me."

Kaoru sniffed once. Twice. She laid her head on the bed by his side as she wound the sheets into her fists and silently cried. Wanting to still her tears, she tried to be strong, but failed in the face of the utter sadness of the man's heart. She dimly felt his hand on her head as he tried to address her.

"Kaoru, I'm so sorry—you must have lost someone that I—"

"No. Nothing like that." Yet she couldn't still her tears longer than that and instead, buried her head even deeper into the mattress. To think that this man, who had done so much, would end up here.

"I'm sorry then, that I disappoint you." Kenshin took his hand away and wanted nothing else but to die. In the back of his mind, he knew that he had signed his life away to the hands of the doctors upstairs, so it wasn't really his choice. But still, he could dream.

"What do you mean?" Kaoru finally surfaced from the sheets.

"All this talk of escape in the past month, and just to realize today that I'm not someone worth saving."Bitterness. Shame. The essence of Kenshin Himura.

"_What?__That's not true_. Anyone is worth saving—_especially you!_"

"A murderer?"

"A soldier who fought in the war, whose very name was used to lay the foundations of our government—"

"Whose hands have done nothing but taken lives—"

"Of those who wanted to oppress! Kenshin, more people would have died—"

"You don't know what it is like to have blood on your hands."

Utter silence filled the room like thick syrup.

"_You arrogant jerk._"

Kenshin's head snapped up at her vicious whisper. Her knuckles seemed to have locked themselves in his blankets and her eyes were burning bright in righteous anger.

"I have had more blood and gore on my hands than you could ever imagine. Though I didn't kill willingly, I was responsible for many lives. You killed but it was counted as a success—it's a small morbid truth that most won't agree to. I, as a doctor, count every life as important as the next. But I, as an individual, know that if you had not killed, so many people, thousands upon thousands, would have died in the oppression. When I take a life, that means I failed. Kenshin, are you listening to me? The lives I took were not for the safety of others. When I lose someone, it is in utter failure. It eats at my soul every night—every widow, every orphan, every lonely person that I had to tell that I had failed to save their loved one's life—I…I wasn't good enough… I could've—" Kaoru Kamiya broke. Like a fragile piece of glass dropped into a torrent of raging water, her sanity and strength lost touch with each other as she found herself completely vulnerable in front of a man.

Kenshin's expression eased into something akin to understanding. He scooped her thin form into his arms and leaned back, with her body beside his. His arms held her steady, as one hand caressed her hair. Her tears dampened his shoulder as she grieved her patients. Minutes passed, with only Kaoru's sobbing filling the silence of the dark room, before she finally looked up into Kenshin's eyes.

For the first time in years, both found acceptance of a deeper kind. Knowing they were kindred spirits, and that words were no longer needed, Kenshin allowed himself to be lost in her eyes for a moment. He nodded down slowly, making sure her brain could catch up to what was happening, and paused his lips an inch from hers. He whispered her name into her parted mouth, letting her decide for both of them, offering his heart to do with it as she wished.

Heaven could not have been any sweeter than her, he thought, as she met his lips with hers.

Urgently burying her hands into his hair, she twisted around so that her body was facing his. A hand on the back of her neck warmed her skin, as the other hand attached itself to the small of her back. Despite the wetness of her cheeks, Kenshin realized that long forgotten instincts—those that made him a man—were starting to take over and in a panic he broke off, not wanting to seem as if he was just taking advantage of her emotional state.

"Kenshin?" She was only half conscious, her lids quite heavy, but even then she sensed his distress.

"I shouldn't have. I mean…" He sighed. "You should know that I have loved you since the day you reminded me my name. But--" She placed a finger on his lips, and he saw in her eyes the truth of everything.

"Shh. Let's not think about that. You're going to get out. I won't let you die."

"Kaoru—"

"Trust me."

It was in that moment that Kenshin found his will to live. _Contract or none._

Several weeks passed. The Makoto Research group prepared and practiced their operating procedures, timing themselves to perfection, making accuracy their deepest obsession. Kaoru's fingers became detached from the rest of her body, so much so that even the beating of her heart no longer had an effect on her dexterity. Takani dedicated to heart every backup plan, every surgical technique, and every preventive measure that could be used in the most pivotal part of their project. Yumi Komagata aided Enishi Yukishiro in the programming of the control chip that is to be implanted into the cerebral cortex of Kenshin Himura.

As for Aoshi Shinomori, Kaoru would only see him once every day—during their morning meetings. On Takani's orders—which Kaoru discovered during a stolen moment with Kenshin in mid-February—Aoshi had started to condition Kenshin, body and mind. They shared a small smile at the knowledge that Kaoru had started Kenshin's rehabilitation a month before. But that was all they could afford. The rest of this stolen moment was spent mostly on assurance and lonely attempts to escape the reality that were to meet them soon.

And it _was_ too soon, Kaoru thought, as she scrubbed her hands underneath warm suds. She had tried her hardest to push the time, to stall so that she could discover some other way to smuggle Kenshin out. But the very problem lies in the fact that Kenshin will lose control of his body the minute he walks off the floor.

_Modern science is far from perfect still._ She dimly thought, completely unaware of how long the water had been running.

"Kamiya." Shinomori shook her out of her stupor and led her to the operation room. Once in front of the swinging doors, she peered through the window and saw that on the flat operating bed there lay a man who was scheduled to be clinically dead that day so that they could operate without doing permanent damage to his brain. She stood in the doorway and ignored Aoshi's nudge, half-muttered/half-begged for a minute.

She shivered and grasped at the doorframe, trying to calm herself. Aoshi stood in silence, measuring her up, to see if she could do it today. Just as when he was about to suggest that they take a day off, Kaoru straightened her shoulders back as she opened the doors to the moment when everything she morally stood for would come undone.

After a few hours of drilling past his skull and locating the separate parts of the brain, Kaoru nodded at Komagata and she in turn fed Kenshin via syringe a chemical to induce cardiac arrest, stopping all blood flow to and from the brain. Kaoru now had sixty seconds. Enishi was by her side; he held up the polymer chip and its seven external pods to Kaoru. In a matter of twenty seconds she had successfully attached the actual chip to the middle of the two hemispheres of the cerebrum, on the corpus callosum. The six other pods, connected to the chip by long synthetic nerve veins, she attached onto both spheres of the parietal, temporal, and the frontal lobes in the next 15 seconds. As for the last one, she didn't even give herself a moment to catch her breath. She instead, hummed to the note of the Kenshin's flat line as a way to steady herself, and carefully attached the last pod onto his occipital lobe—

"Time." Takani stated. "You have ten seconds to seal up." Kaoru nodded and stepped back. Enishi could take it from here. A minute later, they revived his heart beat and started to reseal his skull. Kaoru stayed in the room to oversee Enishi's movements. One erring move was all she needed to use the scalpel she still held on Enishi's neck.

Hours later as they emptied from the room, she alone looked back through the windows of those doors and allowed herself some hope.

* * *

Saitoh brought his forearm up to Sano's neck as he attempted to choke him up on the wall. He grinned when he discovered that Sano was still able to use his fingers despite the lack of breath. Saitoh staggered back laughing while Sano whizzed air into his lungs again. 

"Go back to Makoto, boy. You're business ends where I stand."

"This is still my turf!" Sano lounged at the head of security, behind the garbage dumpster of the research building he once worked for. He only wanted to visit, but at that very moment, Saitoh had charged him with trespassing since he was no longer employed by Takani. Sano was easily provoked.

Saitoh ducked and tripped the half-sober man. He kicked him twice on the ground, but undauntedly, Sano picked himself up quickly and laid a painful fist on Saitoh's left eye. He kept on punching Saitoh, letting his second wind take him as far as it could, and cornered him up on the wall. Saitoh found that the circumstances had turned, and that Sano was now gripping his collar and letting Saitoh's feet dangle while Sano pushed him up the side of the building.

To Sano's credit, he noted the incoming kick before it actually landed on his knee. Saitoh rubbed at his neck and growled menacingly as he dropped to the ground. Once his head had enough blood in it, he did another offensive on Sano's lithe form.

"_Stop it! _What is going on here, Hajime?"

"I found this mongrel trying to sneak past security." He said as he dropped Sano to the floor, dusting his hands off. Sano gasped for breath and cradled one hand. He had a nagging sensation that he might have_sprained_ his wrist a _little_ too hard this time around.

"This ass thinks I came uninvited. Or does your offer still stand, foxy-lady?" Sano grinned. Amazing how he can still manage to flirt with a bleeding lip and only one eye.

Takani grimaced in disgust and bowed formally to Saitoh. "I'm sorry, he did come at my request. Please take a day off tomorrow to nurse your wounds."

"I don't need a day off…_kitsune._"

Megumi turned her eyes sharply at the offending wolf and held him still with a withering glare. The half-formed smile on Saitoh's face disappeared as he harrumphed away, seceding to the woman's will in silence. Moments later, he had disappeared completely.

"Good work, fox. I'm glad you still claim the respect of the garbage that work here." Sano propped himself up on the dumpster and wrinkled his nose as he first noticed the smell of their chosen fighting place.

"I asked you to meet me at the front entrance."

"I just wanted to surprise you." Sano grinned, his lip split, while Megumi grimaced even further. She turned her back on him, knowing that he would follow like a puppy. Sano just shook his head. It's been months since they had last seen each other, and thus he dwelled in the irony of all those fantastic daydreams he had about their meeting tonight.

_Never thought it would be after a fight. Sano, you dog. You could have had her on the desk the minute you enter her office, and instead here you are injured and tenderized to perfection. Although Megumi is the kind who likes to do all the work, so maybe I'll let her dominate—_

"Do you ever take anything seriously in your life?" She sharply hissed as she ushered him into a chair in front of her office desk. She opened her medicine cabinet and got to work on his injuries before her words even registered in his brain. And this was _not_ because Megumi talked particularly fast.

"Eeeeh!!! Take it easy fox, who says you can treat me? For all your long-worded doctorates, the kind of 'work' you do here scares me at the idea of _you trying to heal me_."

Megumi slammed the gauze on her table and slapped Sano's good cheek. "_How dare you?"_

_Like it rough, Takani?_ Sano rubbed the offended cheek and continued to talk with more tact than usual. "Sorry, Meg. Didn't mean for that to hurt you."

Megumi shook her head and continued her work on his chin. "Why do you want to talk to me?"

"Makoto's orders."

"He could have told me himself."

"They're unofficial."

At hearing this, Megumi stilled her actions and looked straight into Sano's tired eyes. Bad news has finally come.

"He wants _to test him_ the minute he is ready—which means, Makoto has the first assignment and wants it done within the next month."

"He's nowhere near ready." Her voice shook. "It's only been a few months since the brain surgery. He has yet to go through rehab—"

"I'll pass the word along, but I doubt I can get you more than another month."

Megumi nodded. Despite the heaviness in her chest, she carefully and methodically treated each and every wound Sano sported. At the end, Sano was almost completely wrapped in gauze.

_I could freaking pass for Makoto's twin!_ Sano thought silently as Megumi put back her things.

"Any plans for tonight?"He asked, aloof.

"I was planning to just stay here for the night. Someone has to keep an eye on the fifth floor—especially with Saitoh gone."

"Mind if I join you?" Sano lifted an eyebrow at her, calmly searching her face for any betraying nuance in her cold temperament. Megumi lifted an eyebrow in return as a small plan formulated in her mind.

"You know, it's been awhile since I've had a cozy night…"

"Uhuh…"

"I've been staying up here for several weeks now… alone…" She whispered into one ear that was not covered in band-aid. She laid both hands on his shoulders, letting her knees touch his.

"Hmm." _Alright! Score! Now maintain coolness, Sano, you might not actually have to lift a finger for this one._

"Do you think you could offer me a good warm evening?"

Sano growled yes as he slowly nuzzled her neck.

"Then it's settled! Here are the keys, I'll call you in the morning." Megumi stood up and let something metal clink on to Sano's lap. Again, it took the time Megumi donned her coat on before Sano realized there was something very wrong in the situation.

"_Whoa_! What…?????"

"Congratulations Sano, you have the building all to yourself. Just like old times, right?"

"But… I…WHAT???"

"Thank you for agreeing to let me spend the night in my own bed and looking over for tonight."

"When did I agree to that?"

"Well, you didn't actually agree to anything other than 'to give me a good warm evening,' and in my mind, that entails someone to take over Saitoh's job for the night and letting me have a bubble bath and a good book before falling asleep in my very own water bed!" She let her accent go to a ridiculously girlish squeak as she winked gleefully at Sano. She quickly closed the door behind her and let Sano turn her words over in the silence of her lonely office.

"It's a pity his hormones aren't as fast as his brain. Interesting that he could still respond in such a state." Megumi licked her lips as she ran down the stairs. "But not as interesting as that bath. Warm bubbles and wine, here I come!"

_Kuso!_

* * *

"Consciousness?" 

"None since the operation."

"Call Kamiya."

"Should I stay around and try to learn from her?" Komagata spat.

"If you're willing to watch them, you may do so quietly in the observation booth."

"I'd rather puke nails."

He nodded knowingly at her comment. Reverse psychology was a child's toy, perfect for Yumi. He jotted down a few notes and left the room after Yumi. He sincerely hoped that Kaoru would return their calls. She had not been back since the operation on Kenshin's brain, and he was starting to wonder what she was planning. It was no great secret to the group that she wanted him out.

Up three flights of stairs and ten cubicles later, he smiled calmly as he entered his office.

"I could smell you a mile away, Kamiya."

"He likes jasmine."

"I'm sure that will knock him back to his senses. Would you be so kind to hand me back that folder behind your back… Thank you."

Kaoru blinked at the man as he walked past her to his filing cabinet. Once he skimmed through the folder to make sure nothing was missing, he tucked it precariously back into place and sat down in his chair to look at her pointedly.

"What may I do for you?"

"I want that last page, Shinomori."

"Why?"

"You know very well why! I can't do anything without that missing piece of information. Where is that dissertation piece on consciousness concerning the YT657?"

"In here." Aoshi tapped on the side of his head and waited for her reaction. She must be a good opponent in chess, he thought quietly.

"You _will_ give it to me."

"Why?" Aoshi leaned back into his chair, his face betraying none of the anxiety that started to grow deep within him. There was something about her since that day in the operation room that told him she was bordering on desperate

Kaoru closed the door behind her, never once taking her eyes off the psychologist. She was a brain surgeon after all, she knew half of his profession. "Why are you working for Makoto?" she asked in a falsely light voice.

It was as if Shinomori had control over the room temperature itself, for it had gone just a few degrees colder as he tiredly closed his eyes.

"Careful, Kamiya. Blackmail does not suit you." He whispered.

"Nor does the willful robbery of someone's right to live suit you!" She suddenly stated with an outburst of emotion, held back for so many days. She went down on her knees, her neck and shoulders barely making it above his desk, and pleaded. "I beg you, Aoshi. I promise not to say a word of anything to anyone."

"Are you negotiating or declaring your silence?" Aoshi asked, his head tilted in a very un-Aoshi manner. She truly had him confused. Then again, he could write papers and papers on women and never come to a strong conclusion.

"I'm telling you right now that I won't say a thing."

"You just gave up your last bargaining chip."

"To tell you the truth, I never meant to find out about it. I only wanted to find that paper. You know me better, Aoshi, and you and Megumi have manipulated that knowledge of my personality to your use. You know it. I only want that paper." She whispered fervently to the table. She laid her forehead on its glass surface as she continued to talk. "I need to know what will happen to him."

Aoshi looked at her incredulously. Oh he did not doubt her promise, but he was in utter amazement of her integrity. He sighed as she finally looked him in the eyes as a final plea. He combed his fingers through his slightly long hair. He did it once. Twice. And finally, fished out a USB the size of a small-finger's nail that he had clipped to the side of his head, underneath the hair, and laid it on the table in front of Kaoru.

She whispered thank you as he walked out of the room, not wanting to witness her tears of relief that have been threatening to spill. Though before he left her completely, he addressed her one more time.

"I'll have to tell Megumi."

She sniffled and found her voice, wavering, but strong. "Okay."

Aoshi nodded and left her to her musings—distracting himself from the aura of her emotions with the thought of telling Megumi's secretary a thing or two about women.

* * *

_Jasmine. _

His heart pumped his blood, he could unnervingly hear it rush to his limbs. He could feel it. All of it.

He opened his eyes and realized that he could see in the dark.

He could see in the dark and actually taste the air that surrounded her.

"_Kenshin?_"

To be continued.

* * *

**A/N: **That was a filler chapter, I know. But the plot thickens, eh? The B's have the vote but in compromise I will continue to make author notes at the beginning of chapters to address some pivotal aspects. Hope you guys enjoyed winter break. I go back to college _tomorrow_. 


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